Overheard@E3: evidently, they do fail sometimes

by Ross Miller { Jul 11th 2007 at 6:30PM }

Bethesda Softworks executive producer Todd Howard, in giving the Fallout 3 presentations, had two Xbox 360's on hand. One had the flashing red ring, but Howard noted it's because there were no AV cables plugged in.

As to why he had a backup console, he quipped, "I do have a backup should one Xbox 360 fail ... evidently they do that sometimes."

Tags: bethesda, e3, e307, fallout, fallout3

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

steverl22 @ Jul 11th 2007 6:34PM

Yes they do.......

Max @ Jul 11th 2007 6:40PM

Oh come on, is it really that bad of an idea to have a back up?

DUMB @ Jul 11th 2007 6:41PM

GREAT NEWS

Thank You Captain Obvious!

copa @ Jul 11th 2007 6:40PM

Peter Moore says it doesn't matter if it fails in the middle of a demo... all that matters is that they get you that replacement unit within two weeks.

Aex @ Jul 11th 2007 6:58PM

Hmm, took me a month :(

Platy @ Jul 11th 2007 6:41PM

uhahuauhauhahuauah

ironic ... but could be "better" xD

Zeus the God @ Jul 11th 2007 6:44PM

What is that huge white thing on top of the left one? Is that the dev HD?

hydralisk456 @ Jul 11th 2007 6:54PM

At first I thought it was a third 360 but then again it doesn't look like one, a developer's HD is a good guess.

Zeus the God @ Jul 11th 2007 9:23PM

zOMG ITS A NEW RAM ATTACHMENT! Lol, that would be awesome... More RAM would mean endless possibilities. Maybe they should try to pull a Nintendo and release a "Memory Expansion Pak." I have one, and it did wonders for the framerate...

YoRone22 @ Jul 12th 2007 11:31PM

Yes, it is a developer's HDD. They used to be black. Wonder why they changed.

JanJan @ Jul 11th 2007 6:48PM

He's a smart guy
Everyone should have a backup 360
Such as myself
jk
plz dont hurt me

TheMag @ Jul 11th 2007 7:41PM

That's a developer debug 360. I think it packs in about 50 or 60 GBs of HD space so they can upload builds directly to the hard drive rather than having disks floating around.

Jake @ Jul 11th 2007 6:49PM

Slow news day? ;)

Joshua @ Jul 11th 2007 6:56PM

It took me a second to understand the irony. :)

razer @ Jul 11th 2007 6:58PM

Yay, great job Joystiq on the unecessary jab at the 360. Since we haven't heard anything about this (rolls eyes) You actually dedicated a news story to it wow! And right in the middle of E3 so you can't use the slow news day as an excuse. By the way if this website was a 360 it would have 3 red lights because this ugly layout is broke.. Do you happen to keep a backup of a decent designed site on hand? Maybe in two week we will see something that doesn't make my eyes bleed.

horngreen @ Jul 11th 2007 7:11PM

Jeez RAZER lighten up on the rabid fanboyism. They didn't take a jab at your mother just your console. Face facts the 360 is poorly built and designed, I should know I'm on my second. It does have the best games so we'll just have to settle.

CaptNink @ Jul 11th 2007 7:28PM

LOL!

Now, now. :D

Sami @ Jul 11th 2007 7:22PM

Well, if I was ever in such a position, I'd personally have at least one backup for any system I was bringing, be it a 360 or Wii or DS or Virtual Boy or what have you. It's just the smart thing to do, yet in the context of the 360's infamous tendency to crap out, common sense turns the 360 into the butt of yet another joke.

Nothing big to see here, everybody move along.

oldschoolgamer @ Jul 11th 2007 7:27PM

Guys I love the 360 and M$, I have an elite and right now I'm downloading movies and demos galore, but I just had to say the 360 got owned on that comment.

FordGTGuy @ Jul 11th 2007 7:32PM

Don't want to ruin you guys moment but 2 red lights means the A/V cable isn't all the way in.

losttoys @ Jul 11th 2007 7:53PM

FordGTGuy -

The post itself already notes that:
"One had the flashing red ring, but Howard noted it's because there were no AV cables plugged in."

Jake @ Jul 11th 2007 7:32PM

I'm curious, and maybe someone can assist me. If the 360 had no significant hardware issues whatsoever, hell if it was an insanely reliable machine with 1% failure rate, what would fanboys say to express their built-in hatred for the platform?

It has the best games, great 3rd party sales and support, equal or better graphics, good diversity (though too expensive for casuals to enjoy the casual stuff), extras like HD movie rentals and on demand TV, and great online.

Other than ignorantly stating it is shooters only, what could we say about it? The PS3 is, oddly enough, more of the shooters only console, completely devoid of rpgs except good old Oblivion. I guess the fact that it still doesn't have a damn price drop, and won't get one until late November at the earliest. The accessory cost and online fees?

Good thing it does have hardware problems, I guess.

Matt B @ Jul 11th 2007 8:08PM

If the tiny failure rate was true, I would have bought one a long time ago and not bought a PS3.

Nate P @ Jul 11th 2007 8:23PM

Matt B,

Good thing, because being able to play a few good games on your PS3 all the time, is better than not being able to play the dozens of great games on your 360 for two weeks out of the year 33% of the time.

ninjakamster @ Jul 11th 2007 8:26PM

Aside from the hardware problems, I love how the PS3 can use any 2.5" laptop hard drives, unlike being stuck with the proprietary 20 and 120gb 360 hard drives. I like how you can view media and store save game files on USB thumbdrives, memory sticks, SD cards, etc unlike the 360. Not big deals, but nice perks nonetheless.

I like that the power supply is built into the PS3, I don't mind the PS3 being bigger if there's one less thing to carry.

I am a staunch Playstation fanboy, I can understand the hate on the PS3 right now vs the 360 and Wii for instance but not the PSP vs the DS though.

I do think adding Blu-Ray was a mistake to the PS3, should have made it external like the 360 or make it another SKU but only for playing movies, keep all games on DVDs. This would have kept the cost down to the same as 360, $400 vs $600, more people would buy it, more developers would make games for it or not take away exclusives and even more people would buy it. Its a vicious cycle.

Nate P @ Jul 11th 2007 8:34PM

Well said ninjakamster.

Honestly, I hate Sony right now, but they do have a pretty solid piece of hardware for their next installment of the PlayStation.

An actuall price drop, not just shuffeling sku's around, and a few heavy hitters like KZ2, MGS4, and FFXIII will seal the deal for me. Until then, none of my ten foot polls are going to touch it :).